Desktop Support Contract Job Trends

Desktop Support
UK

The median Desktop Support daily rate in the UK is £175, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 17 December 2025.

The table below compares current contractor rates and summary statistics with the previous two years.

 6 months to
17 Dec 2025		 Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 336 342 299
Rank change year-on-year +6 -43 +7
Contract jobs requiring a Desktop Support 265 219 333
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.72% 0.64% 0.76%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.79% 0.69% 0.81%
Number of daily rates quoted 175 143 240
10th Percentile £144 £141 £131
25th Percentile £155 £178 £142
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £175 £215 £200
Median % change year-on-year -18.60% +7.50% -
75th Percentile £238 £239 £230
90th Percentile £275 £250 £279
UK excluding London median daily rate £175 £210 £200
% change year-on-year -16.67% +5.00% +3.90%
Number of hourly rates quoted 48 19 16
10th Percentile £16.17 £22.50 £17.36
25th Percentile £18.78 £23.34 £18.38
Median hourly rate £20.18 £24.18 £19.50
Median % change year-on-year -16.54% +24.00% +8.33%
75th Percentile £22.03 £28.63 £20.44
90th Percentile £31.40 £31.04 £23.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £20.18 £24.18 £19.50
% change year-on-year -16.54% +24.00% +11.43%

All Contract IT Job Vacancies
UK

For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract IT job vacancies. Most job vacancies include a discernible job title that can be normalized. As such, the figures in the second row provide an indication of the number of contract jobs in our overall sample.

Contract vacancies in the UK with a recognized job title 33,474 31,919 40,968
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 90.98% 92.77% 93.39%
Number of daily rates quoted 21,192 19,646 27,547
10th Percentile £290 £300 £288
25th Percentile £404 £410 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
75th Percentile £619 £638 £644
90th Percentile £720 £738 £740
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £490 £500
% change year-on-year -3.06% -2.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,966 1,020 1,459
10th Percentile £14.25 £15.48 £15.16
25th Percentile £18.00 £21.00 £19.06
Median hourly rate £25.15 £33.52 £45.00
Median % change year-on-year -24.97% -25.51% +50.00%
75th Percentile £57.50 £62.59 £65.00
90th Percentile £71.00 £72.53 £77.50
UK excluding London median hourly rate £25.15 £32.50 £45.00
% change year-on-year -22.62% -27.78% +80.00%

Desktop Support
Job Vacancy Trend

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings featuring 'Desktop Support' in the job title relative to all contract IT jobs advertised.

Desktop Support job vacancy trend in the UK

Desktop Support
Daily Rate Trend

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for Desktop Support job vacancies in the UK.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for Desktop Support job vacancies in the UK

Desktop Support
Daily Rate Histogram

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Desktop Support over the 6 months to 17 December 2025.

Daily rate histogram for Desktop Support in the UK

Desktop Support
Hourly Rate Trend

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for Desktop Support job vacancies in the UK.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for Desktop Support job vacancies in the UK

Desktop Support
Hourly Rate Histogram

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Desktop Support over the 6 months to 17 December 2025.

Hourly rate histogram for Desktop Support in the UK

Desktop Support
Top 17 Contract Job Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing Desktop Support within the UK over the 6 months to 17 December 2025. The 'Rank Change' column provides an indication of the change in demand within each location based on the same 6 month period last year.

Location Rank Change
on Same Period
Last Year		 Matching
Contract
IT Job Ads		 Median
Daily Rate
Past 6 Months		 Median Daily Rate
% Change
on Same Period
Last Year		 Live
Jobs
England +8 239 £185 -15.53% 41
UK excluding London -26 185 £175 -16.67% 38
London +2 71 £185 -14.55% 10
North of England -32 45 £175 -21.35% 9
South West +6 32 £250 +11.11% 6
East of England -2 32 £195 -4.88% 7
Midlands -11 31 £175 +0.29% 7
South East -25 30 £173 -17.62% 6
North West -22 23 £183 -13.10% 8
East Midlands -9 18 £164 - 4
West Midlands -28 13 £175 +0.29% 3
North East +1 12 £175 -
Wales +10 11 £160 -27.27%
Yorkshire -42 10 £165 -26.67% 1
Work from Home -11 7 £163 -32.99% 10
Scotland -3 6 £130 -7.14% 2
Northern Ireland -12 3 £200 +29.03% 1

Desktop Support Skill Set
Top 30 Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities

For the 6 months to 17 December 2025, Desktop Support contract job roles required the following skills and capabilities in order of popularity. The figures indicate the absolute number of co-occurrences and as a proportion of all contract job ads featuring Desktop Support in the job title.

1 153 (57.74%) Windows
2 115 (43.40%) Microsoft 365
3 108 (40.75%) Microsoft
4 98 (36.98%) Customer Service
5 92 (34.72%) Active Directory
6 90 (33.96%) Security Cleared
7 89 (33.58%) SC Cleared
8 82 (30.94%) Windows 10
9 62 (23.40%) Microsoft Office
10 55 (20.75%) ITIL
11 46 (17.36%) Mac OS
12 42 (15.85%) SAP
13 41 (15.47%) Business Intelligence
13 41 (15.47%) Digital Marketing
13 41 (15.47%) Programme Management
14 39 (14.72%) Android
15 38 (14.34%) Cisco
16 37 (13.96%) Problem-Solving
17 36 (13.58%) Azure
17 36 (13.58%) Microsoft Intune
18 34 (12.83%) Microsoft Exchange
19 33 (12.45%) Dell
19 33 (12.45%) SLA
20 32 (12.08%) HP
20 32 (12.08%) SCCM
20 32 (12.08%) Wireless
21 31 (11.70%) Service Management
22 30 (11.32%) Service Delivery
23 28 (10.57%) Migration
23 28 (10.57%) Time Management

Desktop Support Skill Set
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities by Category

The following tables expand on the one above by listing co-occurrences grouped by category. They cover the same employment type, locality and period, with up to 20 co-occurrences shown in each category:

Application Platforms
1 34 (12.83%) Microsoft Exchange
2 25 (9.43%) SharePoint
3 1 (0.38%) Exchange Server 2010
3 1 (0.38%) HCL Notes
Applications
1 62 (23.40%) Microsoft Office
2 18 (6.79%) Microsoft Excel
3 14 (5.28%) Spreadsheet
4 1 (0.38%) Microsoft PowerPoint
Business Applications
1 2 (0.75%) assyst
1 2 (0.75%) Remedy ITSM
2 1 (0.38%) Eikon
2 1 (0.38%) Eze OMS
2 1 (0.38%) Fidessa
Cloud Services
1 115 (43.40%) Microsoft 365
2 36 (13.58%) Azure
3 16 (6.04%) OneDrive
4 7 (2.64%) Entra ID
5 1 (0.38%) Slack
Communications & Networking
1 32 (12.08%) Wireless
2 20 (7.55%) VPN
3 15 (5.66%) DNS
4 13 (4.91%) PABX
5 12 (4.53%) DHCP
6 9 (3.40%) Skype
6 9 (3.40%) TCP/IP
7 8 (3.02%) Cisco IOS
8 5 (1.89%) Structured Cabling
9 4 (1.51%) Firewall
9 4 (1.51%) LAN
10 3 (1.13%) Remote Desktop
10 3 (1.13%) Softphone
10 3 (1.13%) VLAN
10 3 (1.13%) WAN
11 2 (0.75%) Telepresence
11 2 (0.75%) Unified Communications
11 2 (0.75%) Wi-Fi
11 2 (0.75%) WLAN
12 1 (0.38%) IP Telephony
Development Applications
1 2 (0.75%) JIRA
General
1 130 (49.06%) Social Skills
2 86 (32.45%) Finance
3 49 (18.49%) Public Sector
4 44 (16.60%) Telecoms
5 42 (15.85%) Manufacturing
6 41 (15.47%) Electronics
6 41 (15.47%) Marketing
7 31 (11.70%) Analytical Skills
8 14 (5.28%) Banking
9 9 (3.40%) Front Office
9 9 (3.40%) Retail
10 6 (2.26%) Aerospace
10 6 (2.26%) Documentation Skills
11 4 (1.51%) Law
11 4 (1.51%) Organisational Skills
12 3 (1.13%) Investment Banking
12 3 (1.13%) Legal
12 3 (1.13%) Pharmaceutical
13 1 (0.38%) Financial Institution
13 1 (0.38%) Retail Banking
Miscellaneous
1 29 (10.94%) Self-Motivation
2 25 (9.43%) Data Centre
3 22 (8.30%) Smartphone
4 14 (5.28%) iPad
4 14 (5.28%) iPhone
5 13 (4.91%) Onboarding
6 10 (3.77%) Mobile App
7 8 (3.02%) Management Information System
8 7 (2.64%) Video Conferencing
9 5 (1.89%) Driving Licence
9 5 (1.89%) Hedge funds
10 3 (1.13%) Enterprise Software
10 3 (1.13%) Hybrid Cloud
10 3 (1.13%) Virtual Team
11 2 (0.75%) Tandem
12 1 (0.38%) Blackberry
12 1 (0.38%) BYOD
12 1 (0.38%) Data Protection Act
12 1 (0.38%) Fat Client
12 1 (0.38%) Thin Client
Operating Systems
1 153 (57.74%) Windows
2 82 (30.94%) Windows 10
3 46 (17.36%) Mac OS
4 39 (14.72%) Android
5 16 (6.04%) Apple iOS
6 12 (4.53%) Windows Server
7 2 (0.75%) Windows Server 2012
8 1 (0.38%) Linux
8 1 (0.38%) Windows 7
Processes & Methodologies
1 98 (36.98%) Customer Service
2 55 (20.75%) ITIL
3 41 (15.47%) Business Intelligence
3 41 (15.47%) Digital Marketing
3 41 (15.47%) Programme Management
4 37 (13.96%) Problem-Solving
5 31 (11.70%) Service Management
6 30 (11.32%) Service Delivery
7 28 (10.57%) Migration
7 28 (10.57%) Time Management
8 25 (9.43%) ITSM
8 25 (9.43%) Workflow
9 21 (7.92%) Inventory Management
10 18 (6.79%) Patch Management
11 17 (6.42%) Workflow Management
12 16 (6.04%) Mobile Device Management
13 15 (5.66%) Incident Management
14 13 (4.91%) Continuous Improvement
15 12 (4.53%) Logistics
16 11 (4.15%) Asset Management
Programming Languages
1 16 (6.04%) PowerShell
Qualifications
1 90 (33.96%) Security Cleared
2 89 (33.58%) SC Cleared
3 21 (7.92%) Degree
4 15 (5.66%) ITIL Certification
5 10 (3.77%) Microsoft Certification
6 5 (1.89%) A+ Certification
7 4 (1.51%) BPSS Clearance
7 4 (1.51%) DBS Check
8 3 (1.13%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
9 2 (0.75%) Computer Science Degree
10 1 (0.38%) Dell Certification
10 1 (0.38%) MCP
10 1 (0.38%) MCSE
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 33 (12.45%) SLA
2 9 (3.40%) QA
3 7 (2.64%) GDPR
4 1 (0.38%) COBIT
System Software
1 92 (34.72%) Active Directory
2 14 (5.28%) Virtual Desktop
3 4 (1.51%) BitLocker
3 4 (1.51%) Firmware
4 1 (0.38%) Virtual Machines
4 1 (0.38%) VMware ESXi
4 1 (0.38%) VMware Infrastructure
4 1 (0.38%) vSphere
Systems Management
1 36 (13.58%) Microsoft Intune
2 32 (12.08%) SCCM
Vendors
1 108 (40.75%) Microsoft
2 42 (15.85%) SAP
3 38 (14.34%) Cisco
4 33 (12.45%) Dell
5 32 (12.08%) HP
6 27 (10.19%) Apple
7 26 (9.81%) ServiceNow
8 10 (3.77%) McAfee
9 9 (3.40%) Bloomberg
10 7 (2.64%) Starlink
11 5 (1.89%) Remedy
12 3 (1.13%) Citrix
12 3 (1.13%) VMware
13 2 (0.75%) Reuters
14 1 (0.38%) Altiris
14 1 (0.38%) Eze Software Group
14 1 (0.38%) Lotus
14 1 (0.38%) Salesforce
14 1 (0.38%) Tradeweb
14 1 (0.38%) Trayport
44 Desktop Support jobs Nationwide